SBIR-STTR Award

ZestBio Inc. is developing technologies for the production of specialty chemicals from prevalent byproducts of the US fruit and vegetable processing industries. The ZestBiomission is aligned with USDA NIFA priorities of developing new processes for manufacturing biobased chemicals from US agricultural resources. The United States is uniquely positioned as a world leader in fruit and vegetable processing including sugar production from sugar beets (37 million tons/yr) and citrus juicing (3 million tons/yr).However the peel and pulp byproducts from processing lack value-adding technologies. The proposed research aims to develop a value-adding in vitro enzymatic conversion technology for the conversion of pectic monosaccharides into specialty chemicals. This enzymatic strategy can enable rapid bioprocessing with reduced handling and capex requirements compared to conventional approaches such as chemical synthesis or fermentation. The first chemical product from this bioprocessing technology can be formulated as a chelant for water treatment applications. This formulation exhibits superior calcium and heavy metal binding compared to established biobased chelants. Thus it satisfies the growing demand for sustainable and high-performing chemicals. The overall project goal is to engineer improved enzymatic activity for the in vitro manufacturing process. First we propose screening of a variety of natural enzymes and their homologs for activity in pectin hydrolysate. Second we propose mutagenesis of the enzyme sequence and identifying high activity mutants using a microbial growth selection. The anticipated results from this work plan are improvements in enzyme activity sufficient for commercially viable enzymatic bio processing. Implementation of this bio manufacturing process can increase overall crop revenue. This offers reduced volatility in crop value financial sustainability for farmers and construction of rural-located fermentation facilities to create high paying technical jobs. Furthermore by using existing crop byproducts our products will have a lower carbon footprint compared to competing chemicals made from petroleum or purified sugar.

ZestBio Inc. is developing technologies for the production of specialty chemicals from prevalent byproducts of the US fruit and vegetable processing industries. The ZestBio mission is aligned with USDA NIFA priorities of developing new processes for manufacturing biobased chemicals from US agricultural resources. The United States is uniquely positioned as a world leader in fruit and vegetable processing including sugar production from sugar beets (37 million tons/yr) and citrus juicing (3 million tons/yr). However the peel and pulp byproducts from processing lack value-adding technologies. The proposed project aims to optimize and scale a value-adding invitro enzymatic conversion technology for the conversion of pectic monosaccharides into specialty chemicals. This enzymatic strategy can enable rapid bioprocessing with reduced OpEx and CapEx requirements compared to conventional approaches such as chemical synthesis or fermentation. The first chemical product from this bioprocessing technology can be formulated as a chelant or corrosion inhibitor for water treatment applications. These formulations exhibit superior heavy metal binding compared to established biobased chelants and on par or exceeding synthetic and semi-synthetic chelants prevalent in the market. Additionally they are capable of preventing mild steel corrosion. Thus they satisfy the growing demand for sustainable and high-performing chemicals. The overall project goal is to prepare the technology for scaling in pilot bioreactors. First we propose improving the enzyme stability by screening variants and performing mutagenesis on amino acid hotspots. Second we propose preliminary optimization of enzyme production conditions. Third we propose optimization and scaling of synthesis to bioreactors. The anticipated results from this work plan are a technology ready for pilot-scale manufacturing. Implementation of this biomanufacturing process can increase overall crop revenue. This offers reduced volatility in crop value financial sustainability for farmers and construction of rural-located fermentation facilities to create high paying technical jobs. Furthermore by using existing crop byproducts our products will have a lower carbon footprint compared to competing chemicals made from petroleum or purified sugar.